AN EXCITING PATROL

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20991, 19 December 1939, Page 7

AN EXCITING PATROL

EXPLOITS OF SUBMARINE GERMAN WARSHIPS ENGAGED MUCH DAMAGE INFLICTED (Official Wireless) (Received Dec. 19, 1 p.m.) RUGBY, Dec. 18 The British submarine which recently sank a U-boat, sighted the Bremen, and torpedoed at least one German cruiser had an enthusiastic reception on her return to port. As she entered the harbour sirens sounded on every ship present, among them two destroyers of the Polisn Navy which are co-opearting with the Royal Navy. The patrol from which the submarine returned is spoken of in naval circles as the most venturesome undertaken by any submarine, either in this war or the last. Events moved rapidly from the beginning. The submarine had not long been in her patrol area before she sighted a German U-boat of a big oceangoing type, moving fast on the surface, outward bound.

The British submarine manoeuvred quickly to attack. Torpedoes were fired, and in a few minutes there came a shattering explosion and wreckage was* thrown at least two hundred feet into the air. The British submarine made an unsuccessful search for survivors. The next incident to befall this small unit of the British Navy was of a different character, proving to the world the scrupulous regard of the British Navy for international law. The true story of the sighting of the Bremen, etc., and how she was able to proceed on her way unharmed would itself make a chapter in naval history of this war, but the submarine’s adventures on this patrol were far from ended. German Warships Sighted Rather less than 24 hours after the Bremen had passed the submarine was again cruising submerged, keening a look-out through the periscope, when ships were sighted. On closer investigation these proved to be two German battle cruisers, the Sharnorst and the Gneisenau, and one of the pocket-battleships, with three cruisers in company. Two of these cruisers were new eight-inch gun ships, the Hipper and the Blucher. The other was recognised as the Leipzig because of her funnel and conspicuous aircraft crane. The enemy cruisers altered their course, so that it was seen that they would pass within torpedo range of the submarine, which fired six" torpedoes on slightly different courses. The first torpedo hit the Leipzig. There was a pause of only a minute Then two more terrific explosions told that two other torpedoes had found their mark—almost certainly upon the second heavy cruiser of the Blucher class. The other three torpedoes had obviously passed between the enemy ships. The submarine, however, could not wait to determine the exact result of the attack. She had to dive deep to elude her pursuers, by steering a 7igzag course at a high speed at a considerable depth. She was hunted and depthcharged for two hours. It was not until after dark that the British submarine returned to the scene. Then she found an area of nearly four and a-quarter mi'«*s of sea thickly coated in oil fuel. There was so much oil on the sea that the fumes contaminated the air to such an extent that the submarine had to leave the vicinity and ventilate with clean air before being able to dive again. It is suggested that at least one heavy cruiser in addition to the Leipzig was badly damaged, and that one of the ships might well have failed to reach port.